Optional preferential voting .....

Haemodorum corymbosum (I had to go out in the rain today to identify this to genus: the difference was in the basal leaves.)

Looking at the differences in informal voting rates yesterday, one presumes that the poorer rate for NSW is a function of our 'optional' preferential system for both houses in NSW, introduced by Wran, and modified with no fanfare at the last State election, where unsuspecting voters, casting the legislative council ballot failed to realise that a 1 above the line did not preference the whole ticket, only the column below. Thus, many voters exhausted their ballot after choosing a single party, but cast an entirely valid vote. Many, including my daughter, expected their choice of the Greens above the line, to continue with choices to the end of the ballot paper. Not so. But not informal.

Of course, this was the usual stealth legislation. And as usual the newspapers, most of whose reporters are apparently innumerate failed to notice it, nor to notice its purpose.

And it looked like, that at the same time as our politicians introduced this change, they reverted to 3 terms for an elected councillor, turning over 1/3 of the council at each election. (I infer this, from the fact that both above and below the line we were exhorted to put 16 preferences, not the 22 or 23 if half the council was being elected) In any case, the aim of the exercise was to increase the rate of ballots exhausted before being able to be allocated to a preference. Thus, attempting to put an end to the random election of persons at the tail end of a ticket with less than 1% of the primary vote, which has often occurred as a result of the preferencing choices of the major parties.